Is now the time to be theatrical about Thatcher?

Margaret Thatcher was no feminist. In fact, she vehemently rejected feminism. Nor did her position as Britain’s first female Prime Minister herald an age of gender equality in politics: women are still severely under-represented in politics today. To treat someone as a feminist icon, simply because she is a woman in a powerful position is, in my view, an anti-feminist sentiment.

Secondly, in its attempt to explore Margaret Thatcher “the feminist”, this film is guilty of a dangerous level of “depoliticization”. The filmmakers have stated explicitly that The Iron Lady is not about politics. Rather, it is an attempt to show Margaret Thatcher’s political rise and fall through her own eyes (and, as I’ve said, through her eyes as a woman), and as such makes no moral judgements on her time in office. Unfortunately, in its attempts to be a-political, this film actually succeeds in achieving the opposite.

There is little, sometimes no, mention of the heavy criticism of Thatcher’s policies that was rampant at the time. Margaret Thatcher never achieved more than a third of the vote; she was derided and mocked in many circles. She is perhaps one of the most divisive figures in the history of British politics, and yet anyone watching this film would be forgiven for thinking she was no more controversial than a kitten playfully batting around a ball of wool.

Union leaders are shown as nothing more than sexist bigots – yet more men trying to keep Mrs Thatcher down – and Poll Tax rioters are depicted as thuggish malcontents banging on poor old Maggie’s car window. We are not shown the causes of this unrest. People were outraged by policies that deindustrialised Britain, caused huge levels of unemployment, increased the wealth gap between rich and poor and deregulated the markets.

And yet her decision-making and refusal to renege in the face of criticism from her Cabinet is lauded as another triumph of a brave woman over the structures of patriarchy and sexism that pervade the House of Commons. We see Thatcher’s fall from grace – the camera follows her walking through Number 10, the halls lined with hordes of women who have presumably until now been hiding in auxiliary positions, as she resigns as leader of the Conservative Party. Some of these women are openly weeping, distressed as they are to watch their beloved icon being so callously ousted by that dastardly Michael Heseltine. Pass the bucket – I’m either going to vomit or drown myself.

I do not necessarily object to the idea of a film about Margaret Thatcher. I also don’t mind a film that is mainly biographical rather than political. However, I can’t help but feel that making such a film as this during what is proving to be a difficult and unpleasant time in British politics is irresponsible. There has been widespread protest over Higher Education changes, one of the largest public sector strikes for decades, and rioting in the streets. The Occupy movement remains camped out in the shadows of St Paul’s cathedral and are calling out for a more responsible capitalism.

The truth is that deep ideological changes are happening in this country and sparking unrest which seems to echo that of the Thatcher era. Is now really the time to make a film that glorifies and white-washes a woman who has inspired so much controversy? No matter what one’s opinion of the lady herself is, it is evident from this film that much of the reality of the past has been rewritten. I am disappointed that the filmmakers have chosen such a stance. They did not need to condemn Mrs Thatcher, but they did not need to glorify her either. As it is, this film seeks to change history – I only hope that the message does not sink in.